Thursday, December 31, 2015

A new mold! We don't get a ton of all-new molds, and it's worth noting that the Glyarmor Hades Trooper
is actually just an add-on for the regular Pheyden figure. Well, it
would be - but it's sold as a set. 12 new pieces were tooled up and
assembled on the Pheyden body, meaning that if you use as many of the
new parts as possible you'll still have 4 limbs and 2 heads left over
unused. It's kind of a waste - there are lots of spare arms, legs, and
heads as well as torsos out there, but nobody has a surplus of hands and
feet to make other new figures from.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Monday, December 21, 2015

You may be just as - if not more - interested in this article at Onell Design which highlights the creative process with concept art and tons of fun anecdotes. Toy creator commentary is scarce, so check it out: Titanic Intentions.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

If you go to the Callgrim Shop right now, four Star Wars-inspired figures are up. Meet Bobaran, Eyegee, and Trando - plus a new Firespray Warp Bike! 25 Bobarans are left, so you should probably snag these sooner than later.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

This figure doesn't have a name - and wasn't actually sold - so we'll just call him the (officially nameless) Brown Crayboth.
Onell Design has dropped in numerous promotional parts and figures,
which is one part awesome and one part obnoxious. As someone who was
collecting every Crayboth, the freebies being distributed randomly
resulted in my chain being broken so now I just grab odds and ends as I
go. I'm always delighted by them, and generally the freebie figures are
unpainted. This one actually has painted detail.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Onell
Design has been great about making numerous recolors of its many toys,
and seeing more than one flavor during a mold debut seems to benefit
everybody. I snagged Skeleden Nemica Icewave along with the
Standard version during the debut, as the blue struck me not unlike the
many "holographic" figures from over the years. It's a neat figure,
particularly early in its lifespan. There have been a few awesome
bright clear figures since, and I assume there will be many more - I
just happen to love the blue here.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Thursday, August 27, 2015

The toymaking lovely people at October Toys posted a swell Grimskull Update. The Kickstarter for this Glyos-compatible figure goes up the first week of September, and based on what was previewed at Comic-Con it's looking good.

It's also the 20th anniversary of the brand. If you remember reading about it in Tomart's Action Figure Digest too, that means that you are old and that this is the mummy's curse.

There used to be a pretty steady stream of new versions of this mold, but the Argen MK XVII Electric Revenant
continues the line nicely - and slowly. A ton of Buildman figures are
out there, but in the last couple of years we've seen new heads
introduced and now we're seeing more deluxe versions bundles with Axis
Joints right off the bat. During the launch Onell Design also made
matching Dark Teal Axis Joints sets alone, plus Swing Joints and Phase
Arms. You've got plenty of room to upgrade this figure, and the set
has enough extra pieces to keep it interesting as a $12 packet.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

In the world of collectible toys, momentum and an engaged fanbase are valuable assets. Power Lords debuted to much fanfare and tremendous goodwill, and then had neither. Ggrabbtargg
was a good example of how the Horsemen put together a good idea on a
good license, but through the magic of time and waiting people may have
just moved on. The item sold quickly thanks to its low production run,
but the low going rate on eBay says it all - people don't have a lot of
hope for this line which, after nearly two years, has yielded exactly
two figures (with some repaints and remolded parts). Expectations were
high, as the Horsemen delivered a pretty rapid clip of Outer Space Men
to the tune of four per year for the first two years. Even a
high-quality trickle of repaints is still a trickle of repaints, while
the loyalists wait to see what (if anything) happens with this once and
possibly future Glyos-compatible line some of us just kind of shrugged
and went back to our consistent favorites.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

One
of the problems I've had with toys is, at times, especially in indie
spheres, things can take an aggressive turn toward "I've got that."
Quality, value, and niftiness can only take you so far after a few years
of collecting a line of new colorways, even if there are some really
neat ones like the Skeleden Ullcroth Mutation. The real genius
in the Onell Design Glyos figure is how, at times, they can take a
figure you've bought and sell you another one with a wholly new
perspective, at no extra cost. Glow-in-the-dark figures absorb much of
the sculpted detail, leaving you to focus on the action feature and its
general form. Clear figures give you a look at the guts. But one of
the more interesting features - the panel lines - were phased out due to
costs. And now, we had them brought back for a special pair of
Skeledens, where the savings of the rising middle class in China are
also being passed along to you. This one was $18 - panel line-free
versions were about $12. The added paint lines are applied with an eye
toward perfection, but it also raised the cost by 50%. Seeing where
you'll spend money is another great way to gain perspective.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Sunday, August 9, 2015

A sneak peek - or a custom? The Weaponeers of Monkaa showed off a couple of Transformers-inspired pieces at Kansas City Comic Con over the weekend. Is there more to this? Probably! We'll post more when we find it. Click here to see it on Instagram.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Fantastic? Spectacular. These figures bring back panel lines and look pretty stunning, which is unfortunate if you've been trying to cut back on your indie toy purchases. Click here to see the menu, or read below the break to see it pasted below. But seriously, go there to see the pictures.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Details are thin, but park your fanny online on Tuesday. At 9:30 PM Eastern, a new drop is going up at Onell Design to celebrate their 8th anniversary of making (and facilitating) great indie toys.

At this time I have no specifics, but they are promised soon in this blog post. Note - panel lines! "Through the Citadel" should be a fun time and I hope some new games or comics come along for the ride.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Over at TheOuterSpaceMen.com,
there's a sale now - figures dating back several years are up for
grabs, individually, for as little as $10. Even the Cosmic Creator
figures that some of us spent $125 on for the set and carried them back
to our hotel in New York a couple of miles in the snow are down to a
paltry $20 a pop - a fantastic price.
It looks like a few may have
sold out, but $10 Cosmic Creators and $15 Cyclops Infinity are some
pretty fantastic buys. Get 'em while you can!

Monday, July 6, 2015

If you're going to San Diego Comic-Con, you'll want to stop by the October Toys Booth. #4951 has a weathered Titan Skeleton (pictured) as well as a metal Deadbeet, OMFG series 1-4, and some other goodies.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

I'm a sucker for glow-in-the-dark toys. When I saw the Kickstarter for Skeleton Warriors included a Glow-in-the-Dark Titan Skeleton,
I needed to buy this 5-inch super-articulated figure. Usually I snag
the Kickstarter-exclusive versions - which in this case was clear blue -
but I went for glow and bone and am glad I did![ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

The details are unknown beyond this: Sunday, 9:30 PM Eastern, Manglors-inspired Glyos drop at Onell Design. We see a Skeleden, but new molds (like Manglors) are an unknown. Click here for the announcement.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

I was very much aware of Baron Dark and his cohorts from the 1990s Skeleton Warriors
line, in part because it was during that glorious period where
Playmates and other toymakers tried to make something for kids that also
would be of a higher quality for older collectors. It worked for Star Trek,
so it made sense to try it elsewhere. Well, it didn't work, but
October Toys licensed the brand as a collector run again - 1:18 scale
Glyos figures - and you know what? It worked nicely. We haven't seen a
second character yet, but the first one is good.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

I'm
a fan of October Toys. They host the Glyos forum, and put good stuff
out - it's one of the few companies where I feel a strong need to try
anything they make because, generally speaking, it's good, cheap, and
the outfit is run by nice people. I was totally OK waiting a few
extra months for the Bone Titan Skeleton, a 5-inch
super-articulated figure created, I assume, to share tooling with Baron
Dark in order to get a little more bang for the tooling buck. I did
the Kickstarter to get the Baron, this Skeleton, the glow version, and a
Skeleden - and that seemed like enough. I now regret skipping the
clear blue one, because the Titan Skeleton mold is quite good and
because these were intended to be scaled to 3 3/4-inch figures, it's the
perfect nemesis to the Jakks Pacific Link figure from the Zelda
games as well as other fantasy lines in this scale. Which I am now
blanking on, I'm sure there must be another one - but hey, it's a good
fake Stalfos.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Monday, May 11, 2015

I'm a fan of the design, and while I don't buy all the new versions I had to snag Rykurra Sarvos
because the coloring reminded me a bunch of this very site. The paint
masks have been changing slightly with each new release, and this time
around we see a new painted space on each side of the torso - you can
notice more splashes of maroon, plus a slightly different paint job on
the head. The "mouth" is painted, but the face isn't.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Friday, May 8, 2015

Marty delivers his figures fast. I placed an order on April 25 for Kabuto Mushi Hunter Mushi
- it was in my hands April 30. He is amazing. His figures are
really good too - since most are new colorways of a pretty good mold,
and I've been trying to cut back on armies, I only get these very
rarely... this Boba Fett-inspired figure came out in a batch resembling
Skeletor and other familiar faces. How could I refuse?[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Thursday, May 7, 2015

The Crayboth Marauder MK II
is a redesign of one of the first five boxed two-packs from many many
years ago, joining the Disruptor and the Standard on the remake train.
After a slow initial roll-out, the Crayboth figures are some of the
most collectible in the Glyos toy world thanks to a number of
unannounced, undisclosed freebie figures of which I even no longer have a
complete set - sometimes you get one, and sometimes you don't.
Thankfully those are unpainted, so for some of the best designs you
actually have a shot at requesting them.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Having been following Glyos lightly since shortly after its inception and paying close-ish attention since 2010, I know RealxHead
products don't come up much. Mori is a guy who makes low-run,
hand-painted and assembled vinyl figures in tiny batches sold mostly
through actual physical stores. This means you most likely aren't going
to get them. The runs he does are small, and based on the numbers I
saw in the carts on launch day Stryker Lock Mohawk sold through
in under two minutes. You could still add units to your cart for
somewhere under 120 seconds, and that's it - when I checked inventory it
was down to double digits quite quickly, which prompted an announcement
for a possible fourth run. (This would be the second US shot at the
figures.) These products come and go quickly, and their hand-made
low-run nature inspires the awed, hushed tones that make them something
of the toy equivalent of cryptozoology.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

If you missed out on the Kickstarter, the 5-inch Glyos-compatible super-articulated Skeleton Warriors are up for grabs at October Toys now. Baron Dark (left) is boxed and $20. Unpainted Titan Skeleton and Glow Titan Skeleton are each $10. They're really good, especially the $10 ones - I'm working on a review right now, so get yours and play along at home.

Clear with more paint! The Neo Granthan Pyrotellica
is an orange release that looks like it probably owes a little bit -
OK, a lot - to Micronauts. The previous Armorvor toys have rarely been
clear, and those that have only had a tiny bit of paint. This is the
first one to have painted faces on clear plastic, making it unique for a
variety of reasons beyond merely being a new color with a newish head
sculpt. Seemingly fans didn't jump on this one, because it didn't sell
out quickly and actually stuck around along with his brothers beyond the
point that the orders actually began to show up. It's still available
as of my writing this, which is odd for a generally popular mold.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

If you're going to C2E2, you've got ample reason to hit up the Nerd City booth (number unknown) once again. Marty "The Godbeast" Hansen once again has a pretty healthy Glyos offering with Kabuto Mushi figures based on a variety of inspirations, all of which can be seen here.

There are four figures in all including the Boba Fett-themed Hunter Mushi, the Skeletor-themed Overlord Mushi, and even a winged Hornet Mushi to name a few. Figures range $16 to $25.

Six new and returning items will go on sale Friday at 12:00 PM Pacific time. This page has details of the drop, with 3 new figures at $12-$15, a new $3 weapon pack, and 2 returning figures at $20 each. If you like He-Man, it's probably worth a look!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Starting Saturday, you can get some new parts! The 481 Universe expands according to this post: "New clear accessories are approaching fast!" What accessories and which colors remain to be seen, but heads, helmets, and weapons are promised in an $8 packet. Sounds fun!

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Return of Skeleden - plus Noboto, Gobon, and More!
The big special this time was an exclusive recolor of the Robo Force mode, and it's gorgeous - I regret that I did not get an order in for this one. There are a few items left as I type this, with 8 items remaining of the initial 21 offerings. Click here to see the March 31 2015 Onell Design drop menu.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Surprise! I missed the memo and new Mission Details are up on Onell Design. The new drop hits Tuesday night with a new Neo Granthan, Noboto, Gobon, Skeleden, and a Gendrone Force Defender - which is Maxx Zero bits reconfigured for you here, and for $16.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

He's green! The Glyos-powered Rise of the Beasts
line is pretty fantastic, although it's hard to view them purely as
wholly their own thing. I keep expecting to see squat little guys, but
Cerula - Green Scorpion with Grey Paint is more of what a small
figure of the 1990s might look like, rather than the 1980s. The
overly-muscular creature is fundamentally the same as Cahriv except for the coloration.[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

The Glyos News Dump is a project run by 16bit.com and is in not affiliated with Onell Design or their official Glyos Transmission Web Log. (Although it's worth noting that we do like them a lot, and they're very nice people.)

More from Adam Pawlus

About Me

Adam Pawlus has written about Star Wars action figures, toys, and collectibles on the web since 1995. He has worked for a variety of magazines and websites and presently works as a Toy Evangelist / Buyer for Entertainment Earth. He also loves Jolt.